COTT Presents Intriguing January Releases-Vote Now

In the Winter Doldrums between Post-Valentine’s Day and Easter, 

we all need a little pick-me-up.

We at COTT are pleased to present these amazing stories for you—from Biblical times to World War Two to Witness Protection to Dramatic subjects—something to intrigue every reader.

Check out the following New Releases. Which one is calling you the loudest? Take a moment to browse, then make your choice below to let us know which you're most likely to read first.

VOTE BELOW from Now until next Wednesday - tell your friends - then come back and see which book is this month's champion!

Happy reading! 

********

Ryan Reid is a first-grade teacher and a Christian with a heart for neglected kids, but a chance encounter during an earthquake with Sandy Arrington, a beautiful young nurse, rocks Ryan’s carefully guarded world and unearths the secret he has held deep in his heart. Though Sandy falls in love with him, Ryan’s forbidden affections lie elsewhere, and he must depend on the Lord to see him through a battle he always hoped he’d never have to face.

Mayor Clarinda Finch and high school principal clash over tradition vs. change during World War II. Can they put aside their differences and fight for both their town and a future together?

Witness Protection promises they can keep anyone safe if they follow the rules, so she follows every one of them to keep her daughter safe. But her husband just called--from the grave!

Forced to flee war-torn Jerusalem in 70 A.D., Rebekah and her husband, Ethan, each take something of value: Rebekah, the cup of the Last Supper; Ethan, a copper scroll detailing the whereabouts of a vast Temple treasure. Ahead, separation and danger face them as the struggle to survive and discover where their true treasure lies.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Four Great Novels Brought to You By COTT

As the below featured novels attest, 

Clash of the Titles staff is a talented group!

Please enjoy this sampling of our latest releases. 

The Last Detail
by Lisa Lickel
Hope, love, and loss meld two polar opposite personalities. How long can they keep passion for their ministry and each other after the wedding? Merit ushers in new life; Amalia ushers it out. Love? Obviously. Marriage? Check. Dealing with the family closet? Step back…When tragedy strikes, they must learn to rely on each other in ways they couldn’t have prepared for.
PURCHASE
CONNECT WITH LISA


Lea's Gift
by Delia Latham (& Tanya Stowe)
A victim of a house fire during infancy, Lea Dale’s severe facial disfigurement pales in comparison to the scars Laren Meadows carries inside...and his painful secret could destroy their chance at true love. For the first time ever, an emotional Lea questions her special connections with Heaven even as she investigates cruel pranks
at her father’s ranch for disfigured teens and tries to deal with her roller coaster heart.
PURCHASE
CONNECT WITH DELIA


A Cowboy Christmas
by Delia Latham (& Tanya Stowe)
A mom on the run; a special child and her “imaginary” friend; a cowboy; and God. Shy horseman Dex Beckett longs to help lovely Layne Mabrey and her daughter, but Layne's lack of faith and stubborn refusal to relinquish her distrustful heart could get in the way of even Heart's Haven's heavenly residents.
PURCHASE
CONNECT WITH DELIA



                                     Stopped Cold 

by Gail Pallotta

Margaret McWhorter lives in tranquil Mistville, North Carolina, but there’s no peace in her life since her brother, Sean, took a steroid and nearly died. Margaret and Sean’s father demands excellence in sports, but Sean fell short. Margaret’s still hustling to win at swim meets at Meriwether Christian High, where Sean was the number one quarterback for the football team. In quiet moments she asks God to heal Sean. She’s angry at her father for pushing Sean, but hate for the drug dealers drives her to find them. A clue overheard at a teen hangout sends Margaret and two friends to the edge of this dangerous sub-culture.   

PURCHASE
CONNECT WITH GAIL

COTT: July Clash Winner!!

Congratulations to Naomi Dawn Musch, winner of the

July New Releases Clash, with her novel, The Black Rose,

third book of the Empire in Pine Series.

Thank you so much to our competitors. This competition was amazing!

LoRee Peery, Found in the Woods
Sadie and Sophie Cuff, The Seekers
Maureen Lang, Bees in the Butterfly Garden
Marcia Gruver, Hunter's Prize

About the Book:
Despite the panic of 1893, logging reaches its golden era in the growing state of Wisconsin, and twins Jesilyn and Corianne Beaumont enjoy a comfortable life with family in the bursting Great Lake city of Superior. But when jealousy incites Jesi to seduce Cori's fiance, a flight and fall from grace lands her in a boom town brothel, where a fresh start is denied her.

Camp preacher Paul Winter longs to offer hope in the logging and mining towns of northern Wisconsin, but not in the way he expects when he meets a redhead he calls Pie Girl. He's never had to battle his own longings quite this way before.

Meanwhile, stung by Jesilyn's betrayal, Corianne's bitterness might separate her from a second chance at happiness and peace. Only by Grace can both women begin new lives, and budding love can bloom in places neither of them expect.

Read an excerpt & find out more:
http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-319/Empire-in-Pines-Book/Detail.bok



About the Series:

Empire in Pine Series

Historic, romantic, women's fiction -- a multi-generational family saga of love and deception, hope and turmoil, and the rise of a wilderness empire.

Purchase Links:

AMAZON: http://tinyurl.com/7m5a5ah

BARNES &NOBLE: http://tinyurl.com/3gelmzp

DESERT BREEZE: http://tinyurl.com/43jbuvd

Thank you as always to our loyal readers. Enjoy a tiny sample of the comments:

• So tough to choose one book based on a paragraph-they all sound fabulous!
• I love, love all the titles.
• It was hard to choose!
• Tough call! I'd read them all, I think.
• My choice is based on both the blurb and the cover. But, again, it was a hard choice. Great work, authors!
• I have read every book by this Author and I have to say I am more and more impressed by all of it!

About the author:

Naomi Dawn Musch was born and raised in central Wisconsin and now makes her home in Wisconsin's vast northwoods where the vistas are ripe to feed the imagination of anyone interested in history. She and husband Jeff have three grown children and two under wing on their150 acre farm where they dabble at raising a menagerie of animals.

Naomi has been publishing a regional newsletter for home educators for the past thirteen years entitled Apples of Gold. See the page "Apples of Gold for Home Educators" for more information. She is also a staff writer for Living Stones News, a regional Christian newpaper; and a regular contributor to Home School Enrichment magazine. www.livingstonesnews.com www.homeschoolenrichment.com www.applesofgoldnews.com

Besides writing, Naomi enjoys homeschooling her children, gardening, taking walks in the woods, a little basketball, and fellowshipping with friends.


Your hostess for this clash was Lisa Lickel. Visit her at http://www.lisalickel.com

Meander Scar by Lisa Lickel

Meander Scar by Lisa J. Lickel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ann Ballard is tired of the waiting, the loneliness, the questions. Will she ever be able to put her husband to rest? Gene has been missing/dead for years, yet she is still married to him until the courts deem otherwise. If only the mother-in-law would allow it!! Just when Ann is at her worst, an old neighbor shows up for a visit. Mark Roth grew up next door to Ann and was her son Ricky's friend. Things became a little tense after Trey (Mark's half brother) died. Mark has now moved back to his hometown to open up a law office and possibly light up some sparks. Is it feasible for a younger man to fall in love with an older woman?



I really enjoyed reading this book. I love how the story unfolded between Ann and Mark. The mystery surrounding Gene was also intriguing and I began to wonder what may have really happened. There were a couple of parts in the middle that dragged just a bit (or maybe it was because I wasn't able to read for long periods and the wait was my "non-reading life" calling me away!) The ending will tug at your heart and possibly tear you to pieces! I do think the ending was most appropriate for this story and I'm glad that ended this way. The meaning of "meander scar" and the tie in to the story made it so much more enjoyable! The characters were believable and I felt like I was in Ann's shoes while reading this book. Highly recommended!



View all my reviews

COTT: Snappy Dialogue, That is

Coming Up at Clash of the Titles, October 10-November 4, 2011

The first annual, Tournament of Champions! 

Over a FOUR week period, SIXTEEN previous COTT champs will face-off in EIGHT different mini-Clashes.

Only ONE will take home The Laurel Award.

With Clashes, games, and prizes galore, you won't want to miss this month-long celebration!

********

*Guest post by Lisa Lickel

Dialogue lets your characters be heard. It’s their voice; their conversation amongst themselves. It’s how they tell their story. Dialogue is talk. Discussion. Arguments. Jokes. Questions and answers. Foibles. Mystery. Mesmerism. It’s the muscle on the skeleton of the story.

The writer’s ability to conquer natural dialogue comes out of how well we know our characters. The reader’s ability to hear natural-sounding dialogue comes from the depth from which he is drawn into the story.

      Using dialogue in a book helps readers see that characters spend time with each other for a reason, even if they’re stranded on desert islands. Tom Hanks had Wilson in the move Cast Away, after all. Dialogue is more than internal mutterings or their revelations to the reader. It needs to be heard, not just read. The words need to translate immediately to sound in the reader’s inner ear, and thus be natural, no matter the setting.

What can we deduce from these two small pieces of the excerpts in this Clash? Are you in time, in story, in the character’s emotions? Can you cheer for them? Figure out exactly what will happen next, or are you eager to turn the page for more?

“Would you mind if I walked with you?”

      “As long as we’re not together.”

      “All right.” He strode into the street and spread his arms as wide as his grin. “There. We’re not together.”

     “Jack!” she cried…. “Get back up here.” Ruth motioned frantically. “Don’t make me fix you up again.”

OR

    
“Perhaps you cannot wait for the wedding night?”

      Her brown eyes simmered. “Why you insufferable cad!” She raised her hand to slap him.

He caught it and lifted it to his lips for a kiss, eyeing her with delight.

She studied him then released a sigh. “You tease me, sir.” Snatching her hand from his, she stepped back. “But what would I expect from you?”

In a novel, talk must have a purpose. A conversation shouldn’t be talk for the sake of filling time or space. Readers have only until the last page to spend with people in a book, so writers must not waste time. Dialogue is meant to reveal something useful, important to the story line—passion, motive, or confession.

Why Snappy? Characters must speak true to their nature. While snappy it might not describe the personality, it implies action, tension, perhaps a slip of the tongue or a revelation that might even surprise the character, but certainly should surprise the reader.

Clash of the Titles hopes you are intrigued by these little snippets of story and want to find out more about the books and authors. Stop by and you’ll get that chance! Meet the authors and leave comments to enter the drawing for a free book.
*Lisa Lickel is a Wisconsin writer who lives with her husband in a hundred and fifty-year-old house built by a Great Lakes ship captain. Surrounded by books and dragons, she has written dozens of feature newspaper stories, magazine articles, radio theater, and several inspirational novels to date. She is also the senior editor at Reflections in Hindsight.